^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) & c {< ^ ^^ ^^ 1.0 1.1 12.5 US JJ Ki 122 IB I4fi 12.0 Hift 6" c .Sciences Carporalion ^ \ r 0' ^} Q. 0 -J The following report of the proceedings is extracted from the Montreal Gazette : About 9 o'clock His Excellency the Governor-General and Her Royal Highness the Princess Louise arrived, attended by Major and Mrs. De Winton, and were escorted by the President of the Association to the dais. The Hon. Mr. Justice Mackay, President, then read the tollowing address : — 241744 iTo His Excellency the Right Honorable Sir John Doiiglas Sutherland Campbell, Marquis of Lome, one of Her Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, and Knight Grand Cross of the most distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Governor-General of Canada, and Vice- Admiral of the same, (&c., «&c., t&c, and to Her Royal Highness the Princess Louise : On behalf of the Art Association of Montreal, we desire to thank Your ^xcellercy and Your Royal Highness for the honor and advantage conferred upon our Association by the patronage to which you have graciously consented, and also for the favor of Your Excellency's and Your Royal Highness' presence this evening, on the occasion of the opening of our Gallery. We not only believe that the love of the beautiful in nature and art is a source of some of the purest pleasures of life, but that it stimulates and supports our highest aspirations, and we think that the influence of the Fine Arts is especially important in refining and ennobling those practical aims which necessarily tend to absorb the energies of a people actively engaged in develop- ing the material resources. of our young and rapidly growing country. We therefore acknowledge with gratitute the interest which Your Excellency and Your Royal Highness have taken in our efforts, and we feel that the promotion of art could receive no higher or more efficient countenance than in the patronage extended by those who represent here the Crown of England, and in their persons unite illustrious lineage and station with a love of intellectual and aesthetic culture. In Your Royal Highness we recognize a worthy successor of your noble father, the great and good Prince Albert, encourager, in his lifetime, of all that might tend to improve the public taste and advance the interests of the Fine Arts, and whose ideas and work have so largely contributed to the notable revival of art which this age witnesses. Although the want of a permanent Gallery had long been felt, probably no step would have been taken, for some time to come, to erect such a building in Montreal, had it not been for the late Mr. Benaiah Gibb's munihcent bequest, and the prompt action which he imposed upon us. In addition to his very valuable collection of paintings and several bronzes, he gave and bequeathed to the Association, in trust for the citizens of Montreal, the ground upon which our building stands, and eight thousand dollars in money. Ours is believed to be the first building erected in the Dominion wholly for Fine Art purijoses. We now most respectfully pray your Excellency and your Royal Highness to accept our warmest wishes for your continued welfare and happiness, and we feel, in common with all our fellow-citizens to whose support and encourage- ment our institution is commended by this auspicious opening, that the taste and liberality of the principal contributor to this foundation receive to-night a sanction which is gratefully felt by his numerous surviving friends as a tribute most honorable to his memory. It only remains for us to pray your Excellency and your Royal Highness to declare formally the opening of our Gallery. Montreal, May 26th, 1879. J. MACKAY, President. THOS. RYAN, Vice-President. His Excellency responded as follows : — Ladies and Gentlemen, — This is the first occasion, I believe, on which a large company representing much of the influence and wealth of this great city has met together in order formally to inaugurate the opening of the buildings of an Art Institute. Through the kindness of the President and Vice-President I have already had an opportunity to-day to inspect the works with which this city, through the munificence of Mr. Gibb, has been endowed. I think Montreal can be honestly and warmly congratulated not only upon thtj possession of a collection which will go far to making her Art Gallery one of the most notable of her institutions, but on having succeeded in getting possession of funds enough, at a time which is certainly by no means peculiarly propitious for the gathering of money, to give a home to this collection in the Gallery in which we are assembled, and to have erected a building large enough to exhibit to advantage many other pictures besides those belonging to the bequest. It is, perhaps, too customary that the speeches of anyone in my position should express an over sanguine view of the hopes and aspirations which find a place amongst the various communi- ties in the country, and [ believe the utterances of a Governor-General may often be compared to the works of the great English painter. Turner, who, at all events in his later years, painted his pictures so that the whole of the canvas was illuminated and lost in a haze of azure and gold, which, if it could not be called truthful to nature, had at all events the effect of hiding much of what, if looked at too closely and too accurately represented, might have been considered detrimental to the beauty of the scene. If I were disposed to accept the criticisms of some artists I should be inclined to endorse the opinion I have heard expressed among them, that one of the few wants of this country is a proper appreciation and countenance of art, but the mfieting here to-da,y, to inaugurate what I hope will be the reign of art in Montreal, enables me to disprove such an assertion, and to gild over with a golden hue more true than that of many of Turner's pictures this supposed spot upon the beauty of our Canadian atmosphere. Certainly in Toronto, here and elsewhere, gentlemen have already employed their brush to good effect, and I shall not more particularly mention their names because they will readily occur to many here. We may look forward to the time when the influence of such associations as yours may be expected to spread until we have here, what they formerly had in Italy, namely, such a love of art that, as was the case with the great painter Corrv ggio, our Canadian artists may be allowed to wander over the land scot free of expense because the hotel-keepers will only be too happy to allow them to pay their bills by the painting of some small portrait or of some sign for " mine host." Why should we not soon be able to point to a Canadian school of painting, for in the appreciation of many branches of art and in proficiency in science Canada may favorably compare with any country. It was only the other day that Mrs. Scott-Siddons told me that in her readings and recitations of poetry, and especially of Shake- speare's plays, she found her Canadian audiences more enthusiastic and intelligent than any she had met. Our Dominion may claim that the voices of her daughters are as clear as her own sevene shios, and who can deny that in nmsic Nature has been most ably assisted by Art, when from one of the noble educational establishments in the neighborhood of this city Mademois- elle Albani was sent forth to charm the critical audiences of Europe and America ? Canada may hold her head high in the kindred fields of Science, for who is it who has been making the shares of every Gas Company in every city fall before the mere rumors of his genius but a native Canadian, Mr. Edison, the inventor of the electric light 1 In another branch of art her excellence must also be conceded. In photograj)hy, it cannot be denied that our people challenge the most able competition. I have, to be sure, heard com- plaints with reference to the manner with which, by means of photographs, Canadians are depicted to the outside world. I have heard it stated that one of the many causes of the gross ignorance which prevails abroad with reference to our beautiful climate, is owing to the persistence with which our photographers love to represent chiefly our winter scenes. But this has been so much the case, and these photographs excite so much admiration, that I hear that in the Old Country the practice has been imitated, so th;ii if there may have been harm at first, the very beauty of these productions has prevented its continuance, because they are no longer distinctively Canadian, and the ladies in what I maintain are the far more trying climates of Europe are also represented in furs by their photographer, so that this fashion is no longer a distinguishing characteristic of our photography ; in proof of this I may mention that in a popular song which has obtained much vogue in London, the principal performer sings : — •% " I've been photographed like this, I've been photographed like that I've been photographed in falling snow, In a long furry hat." No doubt these winter photographs do give some of our friends in the Old Country the belief that it is the normal habit of young Canadian ladies to stand tranquilly in the deep snow, enjoying a temparature of 33" below zero, and it would certainly give a more correct idea of our weather were our Canadian ladies and gentlemen to be represented, not only in bright sunshine, in the spring greenery now so charming, when the woods are carpeted with fern and the lovely three-leaved white lily, but also amongst our beautiful forest glades in summer, wearing large Panama hats, and protected by mosquito veils ; but I suppose there are obstacles in the way, and that even photographers, like other mortals, find it difficult to properly catch the mos- quitoes. To pass to our present prospects, I think we can show we have good promise, not only of having an excellent local exhibition, but that we may, in course of time, look forward to the day when there may be a general art union in the country, and when I or some more fortunate successor may be called upon to open the first exhibition of a ROYAL CANADEAX ACADEMY to be held each year in one of the capitals of our several Provinces ; an academy wiiich may, like that of the Old Country, be able to insist that each of its members or associates should on theit election paint for it a diploma picture; an academy which shall be strong and wealthy enough to offer as a prize to the most successful students of the year money sufficient to enable them to pass more time in those European capitals where the masterpieces of ancient art can be seen and studied. Even now in the principal centres of popula- tion you have shown that it is perfectly possible to have a beautiful and instructive Exhibition, for besides the pictures bequeathed to any city it may always be attainable that an Exhibition of pictures be had on loan, and that these be shown beside the productions both in oil and water color of the artists of the year. It may be said that in a country whose population is as yet incommensurate with its extent people are too busy to toy with Art; but without alluding to the influence of Art on the mind, which has been so ably expressed in your address, in regard to its elevating and refining power, it would surely be a folly to ignore the value of beauty and design in manu- factures ; and in other countries blessed with fewer resources than ours, and in times which comparatively certainly were barbarous, the work of artists have not only gained for them a livelihood, but have pleased and occupied some of the busiest men of the time, the artists finding in such men the encouragement and s'upport that is necessary. Long ago in Ireland the 8 h beautiful arts of illumination and painting were carried on with such signal success that Celtic decoration, as shown in the beautiful knotted and foliated patterns that still grace so many of the tombstones and crosses of Ireland and the west of Scotland, passed into England, and, more strangely, even into France. The great monarch, Charlemagne, was so enchanted with the designs and miniatures of an Irish monk that he P'-auaded him to go to work at Paris, and for nearly two centuries afterwards the brilliant pages of French Bibles, Missals, and Books of Hours showed the influence of the culture, the talent and the taste of Erin. Surely here there should be opportunity and scope enough for the production of the works of the painter's hand. The ancient Ptates of Italy, her cities and communities of the Middle Ages, were these who cherished most their native painters, and the names of many of those who covered the glowing canvases of Italy with immortal work are known often from the designation of some obscure town- ship where they were born, and where they found their first generous recognition and support. Here in this great Province, full of the institu- tions and churches founded and built by the piety of past centuries as well as by the men now living, there should be far more encouragement than in poorer countries of old for the decoration of our buildings, whether sacred or educational. The sacred subjects which moved the souls of the Italian, German, Flemish and Spanish masters are eternal, and certainly have no lesser influence upon the minds and characters of our people. And if legendary and sacred art be not attempted, what a wealth of subjects is still left you, — if you leave the realm of imagination and go to that of the Nature which you see living and moving around you, what a choice is still presented. The features of brave, able and distinguished men of your own land, of its fair women, in the scenery of your country, and the magnificent wealth of water of its great streams, in the foaming rush of their cascades, overhung by the mighty pines or branching map? ^, and skirted with the scented cedar copses, in the fertility of your farms, not only here but throughout Ontario also, or in the sterile and savage rock scenery of the Saguenay. In such subjects there is ample material, and I doubt not that our artists will in due time benefit this country by making her natural resources and the beauty of her landscapes as well known as are those of the picturesque districts of Europe, and that we shall have a school here worthy of the growing greatness of our dearly loved Dominion. It now only remains for me to declare this Gallery open, and to hope that the labors of the gentlemen who have carried out this excellent design •will be rewarded by the appreciation of a grateful public. f * T/ 9 t ii v% His Excellency and Her Royal HighneLJ, descending from thf dais, shook hands with the President and members of the committee, after wliich they made a sliort survey of the Gallery, prior to taking their departure. Shortly after this, in reply to a communication upon the same subject, His Excellency addressed the following letter to the Vice-President of the Ontario Society of Artists. Citadel, Quebec, June 8th, 1879. Dear Mr. O'Brien, — I am only, comparatively speaking, a stranger here, and cannot know how such a scheme as that we have discussed will be taken up. I may, however, give you my impressions for whatever they are worth. 1st. That the existing Art Societies of each Province be requested to elect a certain number (which need not ] auch restricted) to represent the Province in a Dominion Art Association. Pc: liaps all present members of Provincial Societies might be willing to join. 2nd. That the P'^minion Art vasociatiorK'onvhatever name is given to it) should consist of a President, Academicians, Associates, and Honorary Members. The last class might include all men willing to assist, everywhere, if approved of by the members who are not honorary. 3rd. That the objects of thu Association be the exhibition of (1) Pictures on loan ; (2) Pictures by artists who have not exhibited at any Dominion Exhibi- tion held at the city in which the Dominion Exhibition for the year is held ; (3) Architectural drawings ; (4) Designs for manufactures, these being drawings and